The housing market’s persistent woes weigh doubly on small business. Industries such as construction and real estate are dominated by small companies, and many entrepreneurs borrow against their homes to finance their businesses.
That means small business, which accounts for half of private nonfarm gross domestic product and 65 percent of job growth, is unlikely to recover before the housing industry rebounds. “The recent decline in housing prices is significant enough to be a real constraint on small business finances,” researchers at the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland concluded in a December report..............................................Full Article: Source